D.C. Notes: Waiting for the bird flu in Alaska ... and the Southeast
Sunday, March 12, 2006, By Lance Gay, Scripps Howard News Service

WASHINGTON -- Where will the deadly avian flu first hit in the United States?

Agriculture Department disease trackers are predicting Alaska, where they expect the virus to be imported by migrating wild birds. But animal-rights activists are looking much farther south and suspect it's more likely to be detected in birds smuggled for cockfights and other illegal activities and spread through the southeastern chicken belt.